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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Transport",
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"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
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"content": " Mr. Chairman, Sir, let me start by opposing the amendment by the Committee. If you look at Clause 7 of the Bill, it goes beyond repeating what is in the Constitution. In fact, the amendment by the Committee is only restating what is already in the Constitution except Clause 7(2) where it is turning all the commissioners to serve on a full-time basis. But (1) and (3) are already within the Constitution and in the current Bill. The fundamental issue that we need to be careful about is that in December, 2007, just a couple of weeks before the elections, the term of the former Chairman of the ECK was extended. There was debate both ways that his term should be extended and that it should not be extended and after the elections, there was a blame game in terms of who extended his term or who should not have extended his term. This is something that we must be very careful about in the future. It is on that basis that we need to be very careful that come 2017, we do not have a situation where all the first six commissioners are going home because constitutionally, they must go home. Then we have a slate of new commissioners coming in to conduct an election. I am proposing that we consider withdrawing this amendment as a Committee, so that we leave the Bill as it is. It provides the mechanisms of staggering the appointments of the commissioners. Mr. Chairman, Sir, Section 7(4) reads that the Chairperson and four members of the first Commission shall be appointed upon the commencement of the Act and the other commissioners will be appointed slightly later but within the same one year. However, you will never have a situation where all the commissioners go home in one day and a new team comes in. Suppose you have a dispute come 2017 because we would all have moved in terms of our allegiances--- Suppose there is no agreement in the parliamentary committee â like we are having now in the vetting of the Chief Justice and all that or in terms of appointing of the commissioners â and elections are put very clearly that they must be held on the second Tuesday of August, what will happen when you have no commissioners at that time because they have retired and you cannot appoint because the House cannot agree?"
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